Freaks
by Lady Neeko
Summary: "I'd rather be a normal teenager with friends and a social life than a smart ass freak like Sammy Jo!" Rizzles, future!fic


**Title: **_Freaks_

**Pairing:** _Rizzles, don't like, don't read._  
><strong>Rating:<strong> _T_  
><strong>Disclaimer<strong>: _All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual._

**Summary:**_ "I'd rather be a normal teenager with friends and a social life than a smart ass _freak_ like Sammy Jo!"_

**Author's Note: **_More in the future!baby!fic world. Probably more where this came from.  
><em>

* * *

><p>"God, you're so annoying sometimes, you know that?" he interrupts his younger sister while she's mid-explanation on why, biologically speaking, it makes sense that it was easier for her to get an A on their Advanced Chemistry midterm, a class Vinny needs to be in as a senior, and that Sammy Jo decided to take as only a sophomore. He knows she's not rubbing it in; to Sammy Jo, the facts are reliable and therefore comforting, but for Vinny, these particular facts are just irritating.<p>

She does the head tilt that their mother is famous for, and it only irks Vinny even more to see another resemblance between the two. "I'm _annoying_ you?" she asks as though she can't comprehend the thought. She was, after all, only answering the question he presented to her moments before, when he practically yelled at her when she told him her grade.

"Yes, so could you please just shut up the rest of the drive?" he says, his eyes narrowing as he grips the steering wheel even tighter. To her credit, Sammy Jo immediately shuts her mouth, though her eyes, wide with confusion as to why she is being snapped at, glaze over with tears, and she turns to face out the passenger side window.

"Mommy doesn't like when we say shut up," Mikey pipes up from the backseat.

"Yeah, especially when we're using it to be a crank ass to our sister," Regina says with the Rizzoli smirk planted on her face.

"Language," Sammy Jo reprimands, though barely audible, not wanting to cause more of a scene.

Vinny, however, is in too bad a mood to care whether or not a bigger scene is made. "Seriously, no one talks the rest of the ride. Unless you want to get out and walk."

"Then pull over," Regina states, as if it's the most obvious answer to all their sibling problems.

"Jesus Christ, Reggie, we're down the street. I'm not pulling over."

Ever as strong-willed and stubborn as the mother who gave Regina her genes, she fires back "exactly. I can walk, it's right down the street. And then I don't have to deal with _you_." Vinny simply glares in response, but it's enough to render thirteen-year-old Regina quiet, if at least temporarily. She folds her arms over her chest in protest.

It's no surprise that a fight between the two oldest Rizzoli-Isles children turned into a fight between Vinny and Regina, the two most hard-headed of the kids. The fire and determination that the two share, a result of being biologically Jane's, while usually a good trait, often times results in disagreements between the two. Though, even the two of them would have to admit, it's never anything too serious.

This time, however, all three of Vinny's younger siblings can tell he is out to spill venom, though none of them exactly know why.

Mikey is the first one out of the car when Vinny pulls in the driveway, his eight-year-old legs running as fast as they can to warn their mothers of the situation at hand. He's relieved when he doesn't have to run too far, finding his Ma sat at on the couch in the living room, her case files all over the coffee table, brows close together in concentration. "Mama, Vinny and Reggie are fighting!"

"Hey, Mr. Tattle, how was school?" Jane asks, barely looking up from her files, knowing that in a minute, all four of their preteen to teenage kids are going to hog all of her attention. Not that she really minds.

"Fighting?" Maura's voice rings out from the kitchen, where she is preparing dinner. "Why are they fighting?" She comes into view, wiping her hands on the apron she wears, as Mikey dramatically runs over, engulfing her in a hug.

"We aren't fighting," Vinny mumbles as he makes his way into the house, yanking his school uniform tie off in the process.

Regina is close behind him, plopping down on the couch next to Jane. "No. We aren't fighting. Vinny's just being a jerko-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll be the one being a... well, you know," Jane says, knowing that bad language will only further Maura's disciplinary actions towards the fighting siblings. Sammy Jo finally enters the house, and Jane watches her carefully for a moment. "Something wrong, Slug Bug?"

"No," is the only answer Sammy Jo gives, and even Maura narrows her eyes, noticing her daughter's demeanor.

The tension between the Rizzoli-Isles clan could be cut by a knife, that much is clear, no detective needed. "Samantha Jo?" Maura says, trying to get the girl to talk. She is, after all, Maura on a thirty-five year delay.

No one says anything. "Okay, seriously, someone needs to start talking. This is ridiculous. We're a family."

"Sammy Jo got a better grade on a test than Vinny," Mikey blurts out. Everyone just stares at him for a moment, though no one really knows why they are so shocked he's the one to state what's wrong with nothing more than a shrug. He's the little brother, no different than his Uncle Franky was when the Rizzoli kids were growing up.

"The Advanced Chemistry midterm you were waiting on?" Maura asks, having always paid more attention to the specifics of their schoolwork than Jane. "Well, how did it go?"

"I just told you, mom," Mikey says exasperatedly.

Jane pinches the bridge of her nose, counting to ten before she dives in herself. She can feel the onset of a headache starting, though, honestly, she would expect less from three Rizzoli-made kids in one roof. All of her mother's warnings that "one day you'll end up with a kid just like yourself, then you'll know what I went through!" finally coming true.

But right now, it's not the Rizzoli ones that have her attention. Though they never really focus on who got what genes, sometimes the differences between Sammy Jo and the other kids are just painfully obvious, and this is definitely one of those moments. "What'd you guys get?" she asks.

Neither one of them answers. "Well?" Maura speaks up.

"I got an A," Sammy Jo responds quietly.

"Vinny?"

"I got a C, okay?" he practically yells. "Which is bullshit. She didn't even study!"

"I did so!" Sammy Jo defends.

Reggie leans closer to Jane, whispering, "this is what we dealt with the whole car ride."

"You did not! Why are you even in this class? Can't you go be with your own friends in the classes normal sophomores take?" Vinny is furious, and the level of his anger surprises both his mothers. "No one in my grade wants to compete with you, Sam. You're pissing everyone off!"

"Language!" Maura reprimands, but it falls on deaf ears.

"How am I making everyone angry? By getting good grades? Vinny you aren't even making sense!" Sammy Jo argues.

"Okay, look, you two, let's calm down," Jane tries. "You're already halfway done with the class and you'll never have to take another one together again, okay? Just get through this one without killing each other."

Maura raises an eyebrow at her wife. "_That's_ your advice?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, you and I work with people we don't always get along with, but it's life, and you gotta learn to deal with it," Jane tells them, rather proud of herself for turning the situation into a life lesson.

"Besides," Maura adds, "you love each other."

"It's not Sammy Jo's fault she's smarter than you," Reggie inserts her two cents, ever the instigator.

"You know what?" Vinny yells at his younger sister.

"Vinny, knock it off with the yelling, you're getting out of hand," Jane interrupts, not exactly thrilled with her son's attitude today.

"What?" Reggie asks.

"I'd rather be a normal teenager with friends and a social life than a smart ass _freak_ like Sammy Jo!" he yells, and the room goes dead silent, other than Maura's audible gasp. He immediately regrets his words, especially after seeing Sammy Jo's face before she abruptly turns and quickly makes her way up the stairs and into her room before anyone can even say anything.

Jane, having risen from the couch, crosses the room to stand in front of Vinny, disappointment and anger written all over her face. "Your room. _Now_. I'll deal with you later, and while you wait for me, you come up with the best heartfelt apology you've ever had to give for your sister. You understand me?" He nods, knowing he crossed a line and not wanting to cross any others. "Go," she orders, and he does without another word.

Turning to her two youngest children, who also fell into a very rare silence, she points her finger at the both of them. "You two, no more instigating. And go set the table for your mom."

"I didn't instigate," Mikey complains.

"You tattled. It's not always your place to tell people things," Jane responds.

He sighs, but says no more, as he goes into the kitchen to begin setting the table, Reggie following him. She knows better than to argue. Especially when she knows she's probably getting off easy, considering she practically fed poor Sammy Jo to the fire, egging her brother on so fiercely.

The kids all out of the room, Jane turns to Maura, who has fallen uncharacteristically quiet, usually the one to do the disciplining in the house. "Guess we should go deal with the mess our kids made, huh?"

"I need to finish dinner."

"Babe, I think Sammy Jo could use a pep talk," Jane says, knowing that if anyone could understand their daughter and how she's feeling, it's Maura. But Maura goes back to preparing the salad she left unattained when the kids stormed in, and Jane realizes that, for whatever reason, she's on her own this time.

* * *

><p>"Slug?" Jane knocks and opens Sammy Jo's door at the same time, a trick her own mother used to do when Jane argued that she needed to knock before entering. "You wanna talk?"<p>

Sammy Jo is sprawled out on her bed, head propped up by her hands and elbows as she pretends to read some book Jane figures she already read more than once. "About what?" she asks, not looking up.

"You know what about," Jane responds. "Your brother's spitting venom in your direction. And I'm guessing he got a direct hit."

"He's just jealous that my IQ is unfortunately much higher than his. No offense, Ma. Your genes gave him other qualities that he is currently taking for granted," she begins to ramble. "Like the fact that he's not a freak."

"Woah, do _not_ call my daughter a freak," Jane warns with a smile. "Besides, that would mean I married a freak, and we don't want that getting out. It would ruin my reputation."

The joke falls flat. "I never thought mom was a freak," Sammy Jo says softly. "But Vinny is right. He has friends. He has a social life. I have... literature and A's on my Advanced Chemistry tests. I think I'd rather the C. Wouldn't you?"

She does the head tilt that makes Jane's heart melt, and she brings up a hand to cup her daughter's cheek. "One day you'll be proud of who you are, Slug. I already am."

"Of my report card?"

"No, Slug Bug. I'm proud of _you_."

"Why? You don't even understand me."

The statement breaks Jane's tough exterior for a moment, mostly because it's not said with accusation or contempt, but just as a plain simple statement, and Jane can't help her heart from breaking a little at the defeat in her eldest daughter's words. "Your mom used to drive me crazy. Back when she first started working with me." Sammy Jo isn't really sure where her Ma's sudden change in topic came one, but listens intently anyway, as she always does. "The Queen of the Dead, with her high heel shoes that probably cost more than I made in a month. Who wouldn't throw me a bone when I tried to get her to speculate, and who hit me over the head with her encyclopedia talk more times than I could count. You think I understood her at all?"

"No?"

"No. Not one bit. I still don't, most days. But, Slug, I don't have to understand you or your mom to love you both to death, and to try and love and respect what makes you both unique. You aren't a freak, okay? You're you. You're different than Vinny, but that doesn't make you wrong. You get that, don't you?" Jane tries.

"I'm not so sure I do," Sammy Jo gives her honest answer.

"You're really hard to give a pep talk to, you know that?" Jane tries to joke. It doesn't help that she wasn't very good at this part of parenting to begin with. "One day you'll grow into who you are, and people will see what I do. Right now you're just at an awkward time in your life. We all go through it. Ask your Nonna to see pictures of me when I was your age, if you don't believe me."

"I've seen the pictures. If that's what's in store for me in the future? Kill me now," Regina interrupts them with the Rizzoli smirk as she walks in uninvited and plops down on the bed next to her Ma and older sister. "Mom said to wash up for dinner. It's almost ready."

"May I please be excused from dinner?"

"No," Regina is the one who answers her sister's question. "You aren't going to sit up here and sulk and get smarter by reading through a dictionary or something just because Vinny is an asshole. I don't know who peed in his Cheerios, but what he said wasn't even true. He wishes he was like you, Sammy Jo. He's jealous. So own that big brain of yours, and let's go eat."

Jane regards her thirteen-year-old for a moment. Out of all their kids, Regina is definitely the hardest to control, but most put together and confident. "I'm going to have to agree with Reggie on this one. Go wash up. We're eating as a family, just like we do every night."

* * *

><p>It ends up being the quietest dinner they have ever had in the Rizzoli-Isles household. Sammy Jo keeps her head down and her mouth shut as she eats, Vinny, knowing he was lucky enough to even be eating dinner without having been officially yelled at yet, keeps his mouth shut as well. Maura remains quiet, something that Jane knows she is going to have to address once she figures out what is wrong with her wife. The dinner conversation itself consists of Mikey rambling about his day, Regina making smart ass comments, and Jane, just trying to keep conversation flowing at all.<p>

Quite frankly, it's an awkward tense mess.

When they finish eating, and Maura stands to begin clearing the table, Jane stops her. She's not sure when she turned into her own mother, relying on Angela's old tricks, but it happened anyway, no matter how hard she fights it. "Maura, don't. Sammy Jo and Vinny will clear the table and do the dishes." She can't even count how many times she, Frankie, and Tommy were left alone in the kitchen with only their tension and dirty dishes.

When Maura begins to protest, Jane simply pulls her out of the kitchen, ordering the two younger kids to go finish up their homework. Sammy Jo immediately stands to begin washing dishes, while Vinny sits in his chair a moment longer, knowing he was just set up, before joining her at the sink.

They clean in silence for a while, neither one of them really knowing what to say to the other, before Vinny finally breaks the silence. "I didn't get in to BCU."

That immediately catches Sammy Jo's attention, and any feelings she was having towards the situation with her brother melts away, being replaced only by sibling concern. "Oh, Vinny, I'm sorry-"

"Don't. Please, don't apologize. I don't really know why I thought I'd get in, anyway. You've seen my grades. I shouldn't have even applied."

"You work really hard, Vinny."

"It doesn't matter. I don't have that brain you do."

"You have a lot more, though."

Her comment makes Vinny feel like the jerk he is. "I didn't mean what I said. I was just pissy about BCU. I shouldn't have taken it out on you, I just... Who am I kidding, you know why this bothers me."

She did know. Though they were very different, they didn't often keep secrets, and they knew each other. "You can go to another college, Vinny. She'll be proud of you regardless. Even if you choose not to go to a college at all."

When Vinny was little, he spent a lot of time in the morgue with his mom, and although a lot of people made comments that it wasn't the best place for a small child, he loved it down there. He idolized his mom from the moment he was born, and he had always wanted to be just like her. His Ma's partner had once nicknamed him The Prince of the Dead, and while Maura and Jane both expressed their disdain for it, Vinny loved it. And since then, he had decided he wanted to be just like her. Smart. A medical examiner. The Prince of the Dead.

But he quickly learned that he just wasn't the A student he tried really hard to be. He was at best a B, but more regularly a C. He wasn't much like his mom at all. And his dreams of Med School seemed to be slipping farther and farther away with each passing school year. "I just really wanted this, you know? To have one thing... God, Sammy Jo. You have so many of them. You practically are mom, and it pisses me off, because you don't even have to try."

"Maybe you shouldn't, either," Sammy Jo says. "Maybe you should just be yourself. Find your own dreams outside of mom."

"You know, they always tell you that you can be whatever you wanna be when you grow up, but it's a lie. Sometimes you just don't got what it takes."

"You'll figure it out, Vinny. You always do."

They fall into a comfortable silence as they clean the rest of the dishes, Vinny occasionally splashing Sammy Jo with water.

"Hey, Sammy Jo?"

"Yes?"

"Don't ever listen to me. I'm an ass. You never change, you hear me? Never change."

* * *

><p>"Maura? We need to talk."<p>

"Ouch!" A little voice outside their door yells.

Jane can't help but laugh. "Trip over Bass again?"

"I didn't see him," Mikey says, coming into view as he stands in their bedroom doorway, rubbing at his foot.

"Bass is rather large, Michael. Perhaps we should get your eyes checked?" Maura responds.

"Please, Maura. Your stupid turtle has been making me trip for years, and I still see perfectly fine," Jane comes to her son's defense.

"Bass is a tortoise, Mama. Not a turtle."

Maura smirks, and Jane glares at her youngest. "I defend you and your piss poor eye sight, and you turn on me? Nice, Mikey. Real nice."

"Hey, mama?" He grows serious, his best puppy dog face on display.

"Mikey, your mom and I need to talk real quick, can this wait-"

"What is it, baby?" Maura interrupts Jane again, glad for the out.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for tattling," he responds. "Are you mad at me?"

Jane sighs. The entire night since the kids have gotten home has been a mess, and she hates days like this. She loves her kids, flaws and all, but can't stand it when anyone in their family is upset for any reason whatsoever. And right now she can tell that her most sensitive child is upset at how everything unfolded around him. "I'm not mad at you, Mike. Let's just try not to tattle, okay?"

"I didn't know Sammy Jo was going to get sad if I told. I thought you and mommy would be able to stop them from fighting if I told. That's why I did it. Reggie said I did it because I'm a busybody, but that's not it, mama, I swear."

"You don't like when they fight, do you, buddy?" Jane waves him over to her and Maura's bed and pulls him into her lap. His legs, long and skinny from a recent growth spurt, dangle off, and she's just lucky he'll still let her hold him. She knows it won't last much longer. "But I don't think you need to worry so much. Vinny is just a grump sometimes, but that's how teenage boys get. I'd appreciate it if you'd try to remember this moment right now when you become a teenage boy. Maybe you'll try not to be a grump for me, huh?"

"Is Sammy Jo a freak?"

"Absolutely not, and you will not say that ever again, Michael," Maura suddenly scolds, startling Mikey, immediately feeling bad seeing the kicked puppy look on his little face. "I'm sorry, baby, I just... I'm sorry."

"Sammy Jo is just like your mom," Jane says, looking at Maura while talking to her son. "She's smart, she's beautiful, and she has weird little quirks that make us smile. Does any of that sound like a freak to you?"

Mikey shakes his head fiercely.

"Can you do me a favor, buddy?" He nods. "Can you give your mommy a hug and tell her she's not a freak either?"

Maura's head snaps up to look into Jane's eyes at her words. Mikey obliges, practically jumping into his mom's arms and wrapping his around her neck tightly. "You aren't a freak, mom."

She holds him tightly. "Thank you, baby. Why don't you go wash up for bed and I'll read you more of that book we read the other night together?" He smiles, and runs out of the room fast as his skinny legs could take him. Once he is gone, she looks over at her wife. "I hate that she's like me sometimes."

"Tell me why," Jane says, holding out a hand for Maura to take, which she does, and Jane pulls her closer to her own body, wrapping an arm around her.

Maura rests her head on Jane's shoulder. "I remember what I was like. Socially awkward. Lonely. Isolated. I just... I don't want that for her, but she's exactly like me regardless. Don't mistake what I'm saying, I do understand how genetics work but for some reason I thought being raised by you, Jane, that she wouldn't end up so much, well, like me."

"Well, I love that she's like you," Jane states. "Everything I love about you, she is. She'll be okay, Maura. I promise you, she'll be okay. Just wait until Regina comes home from school one day with a black eye and a weeks worth of detentions. You'll be wishing they all had your genes. And Vinny's temper? All me. You aren't the only fucked up one in this family, Maur. You know, we keep telling them that no one is a freak, well, maybe we're wrong. Maybe we should be telling them that they're all freaks. So are we. Let them embrace it."

Maura stares at her for a moment, as if she has grown a second head. "Are you being serious, Jane?"

"I am," she replies, kissing her freak of a wife on the lips. "I'm also being serious when I say you need to be the one to go talk to Slug. I'm out of things to say. She needs to hear it all from you, anyway."

* * *

><p>Vinny was sulking.<p>

"You want to talk about it? Or are you going to get defensive and call me a freak."

He looks up at his Ma, who is giving him a look back that meant business. "I apologized to Sammy Jo."

"I appreciate that, saves me a lot of parenting work," she replies, plopping down next to him on the couch. "But I've focused on Sammy Jo enough for one evening. Time to focus on my overly broody son."

"I'm not brooding."

"Yeah, you kinda are."

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"It's just a C, Vin," Jane says. "It's a perfectly good grade. Especially since I know you studied hard. You put a lot of effort in, which is more than I can say about myself when I was in school. Or your very underachieving little sister Regina."

Vinny sighs. "I really don't want to talk about it. I mean, I talked to Sam about it a bit. And I just need to work some things out. Figure stuff out. You know? I just... I'm graduating in less than a year. I just need to figure things out, is all."

"You'll come to me if you need help?"

"Yeah. I just need to think."

"Gotcha."

Jane gets up to retire for the evening, having to be up early for work the next day, but Vinny calls after her. "Hey, ma?"

"Yeah?"

"Sammy Jo's gonna end up at some Ivy League school."

Jane shrugs, not knowing where he was going with the statement. "Maybe. You never know with Sammy Jo. She might throw us a curve ball."

"But she could."

"Yeah, she could," Jane concedes.

He hesitates. "And if I just went to junior college?"

"We'd still be proud, Vin. Me _and_ your mom."

* * *

><p>"Samantha Jo?" Maura calls out quietly as she opens her daughter's bedroom door. "You think we could talk?" Sammy Jo's sprawled out in her bed, staring at the ceiling. "What are you doing? Meditating?"<p>

"No," she responds. "Just thinking."

"May I ask what about?"

"How come you and Ma decided to have three children with her eggs, and only me with yours?" Sammy Jo asks.

The question throws Maura off guard. "We were going to use my eggs for Mikey, too, Sammy. It didn't work out, but we still wanted four children." Maura can't help the tears that suddenly fill her eyes. "My goodness, that must make you feel even more isolated."

Sammy Jo sits up to look at her mother. "I don't feel isolated. I mean, not often. Okay, well, sometimes, yes. Yes I do." She is as terrible a liar as her mom. "How is it that I am supposedly exactly like you, but you seem so well put together and normal, and I am...well... me."

"Samantha Jo, I think you might be the first person to ever refer to me as normal," Maura almost laughs. "I should have had this talk with you a long time ago. I was socially awkward and an outcast for years, Samantha. Probably up until the moment I met your Ma and we became friends and thus became friends with her group of friends at the precinct. Before that? I never really had good friends. I had a social circle of elite, well, snobs. But nothing like a best friend. And, honestly, it's really discerning for me that you feel as I did. I never wanted that for you. And I couldn't be more sorry that you got stuck being me."

She can tell her mother is upset, and wants to stop the tears before they come, so she does what her Ma would have done, she goes for the humor. "Well, I don't mind being smart and pretty."

Maura laughs. "Well, my God, you've picked up something from your Ma after all. Too bad I could live with at least one child who didn't use sarcasm or jokes in every situation," she jokes back.

"I don't mean for you to feel bad, mom," Sammy Jo says after a moment. "I'm not sad all of the time, honest. I do enjoy my life. Do I sometimes wish I could have as many friends as Vinny does? Well, yes. But I'm thankful for the traits you've given me. I'm not ashamed of who I am. I just don't enjoy it when it is thrown in my face the way Vinny did. He apologized, and we talked and I understand why he did, but it still hurts. When it comes from family. Even you, right now. You're apologizing for making me a freak. Aren't you supposed to tell me that I'm not one and that you and I are both wonderfully normal?"

Maura wraps an arm around her oldest daughter and kisses her on the forehead. "If parenting were an exact science, I'd be perfect at this. Clearly I'm not. But your Ma wanted me to inform you and everyone else in this family that we are all freaks. She listed a few of your siblings less than desirable qualities, but I'm not going to do that. I'm sure you can deduce your own conclusions."

That causes Sammy Jo to smile, and when she plops back down onto her pillow, Maura follows her. The two of them lie like that, staring up at the ceiling in a comfortable silence. "Remember when Vinny and I were little, and you weren't as good as making up bedtime stories as Ma, so you'd just tell us random facts about whatever the first thing to pop into your head?"

"I've gotten much better since. Ask Mikey about the stories I make up when it's his bedtime. He practically begs me to stop making them so scientific," Maura says. "But, yes. I remember."

"Can you do that now?"

"Tell you facts? About what?"

"Whatever pops into your head first."

Maura pauses for a moment, to think, before beginning. "In contemporary usage, the word "freak" is commonly used to refer to a person with something unusual about their appearance or behaviour. This usage dates from the so-called freak scene of the 1960s and 1970s. "Freak" in this sense may be used either as a pejorative, _a term of admiration_, or a self-description..."


End file.
